The present invention relates to an elevator group supervisory control system for assignment processing for a plurality of elevators in response to hall call button information.
FIG. 10 is a view illustrating the construction of a conventional elevator group supervisory control system described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-55272.
In FIG. 10, 1-3 represent three individual car control units (designated at xe2x80x9cCCxe2x80x9d in this figure) which individually control three elevator cars #1-#3 (not shown), respectively, and 4-6 represent hall control units (designated at xe2x80x9cHSxe2x80x9d in this figure) for each floor and each elevator car for controlling hall equipment 8, 9. 8 and 9 represent the hall equipment comprising hall call buttons, indicator lamps and the like connected with the hall control units 4-6.
In the case of the system shown in FIG. 10, there are provided hall control devices 4a-4n, 5a-5n, and 6a-6n corresponding to respective floors. The hall control devices 4a-4n and 5a-5n are connected with hall call buttons 8a-8n, and the hall control devices 6a-6n are connected with hall call buttons 9a-9n. 10 represents a group supervisory control unit (designated at xe2x80x9cGCxe2x80x9d in FIG. 10) which performs assignment processing of the respective elevator units or cars based on hall information such as hall button information, etc., transmitted from the hall control units 4-6. 11-13 represent hall transmission paths or routes through which the hall control units 4-6 and the individual car control units 1-3 are connected with each other. 21-23 represent group supervisory control transmission paths or routes through which the individual car control units 1-3 and the group supervisory control unit 10 are connected with each other. Hall information is input to the group supervisory control unit 10 through the hall transmission paths 11-13 and the group supervisory control transmission paths 21-23.
30 represents a second hall transmission path through which the hall control unit 6 and the group supervisory control unit 10 are connected with each other, and 33 represents a switching circuit for selectively making one of the first transmission path 13 and the second transmission path 30 effective. 41 represents a power supply for the group supervisory control unit 10, and 42-44 represent power supplies for the individual car control units 1-3, respectively. The power supplies are provided independently from each other.
The group supervisory control unit 10 includes an abnormality detection section 10a which operates to generate a switching signal E whereby the first hall transmission path 13 is made effective to the switching circuit 33 when the power supply 44 for the individual car control unit 3 is normal, whereas the second hall transmission path 30 is made effective when the power supply 44 is down.
FIG. 11 illustrates hall button information which are transmitted through the hall transmission paths 11-13, the group supervisory control transmission paths 21-23, and the second hall transmission path 30. 71 illustrates an example of data in the case where an upward call of the hall call button 8a is generated.
Now, the operation of the conventional elevator system. First of all, when all the individual car control units 1-3 are operating normally, the switching circuit 33 is usually connected with a point of contact a as depicted by a solid line. The hall information from the hall call button unit 9 is picked up from the hall control unit 6 into the group supervisory control unit 10 through the first transmission path 13, the individual car control unit 3, and the group supervisory control transmission path 23.
When an upward button of the hall call button 9a is pushed now, the hall control unit 6 outputs hall transmission path data 71 as hall button information. In the case of the normal operation of all the individual car control units 1-3, the hall transmission path data 71 is received by the group supervisory control unit 10 through the hall transmission path 13, the individual car control unit 3, and the group supervisory control transmission path 23.
Next, reference will be made to the hall information transmission operation of the hall call button unit 9 when the power supply for the individual car control unit 3 of the elevator car #3 fails.
The abnormality detection section 10a in the group supervisory control unit 10 is comprised of a relay which is operatively connected with the power supply 44 of the individual car control unit 3. Thus, if the relay detects that the power supply 44 of the individual car control unit 3 goes down, the abnormality detection section 10a outputs a switching signal E so that the connection is changed to a point of contact b of the switching circuit 33 as shown by a broken line.
As a result, the hall information issued by the hall call button unit 9 is transmitted from the hall control unit 6 to the group supervisory control unit 10 through the second transmission path 30. Thus, even when the power supply for the individual car control unit 3 fails, the hall information on the hall call button unit 9 is picked up and sent to the group supervisory control unit 10 and hence becomes effective.
Accordingly, when the upward button of the hall call button 9a is pushed, the hall control unit 6 outputs the hall transmission path data 71 in the form of hall button information. When the power supply 44 of the individual car control unit 3 is down, the hall transmission path data 71 is received by the group supervisory control unit 10 through the hall transmission path 13 and the second hall transmission path 30.
With the conventional elevator group supervisory control system as described above, connections are made in such a manner that the hall information from the hall call buttons is picked up by each of adjoining individual car control units 1, 2, which share this hall information for backup purposes, thus resulting in a problem that a lot of wiring is required.
In addition, the conventional elevator group supervisory control system is constructed such that when the power supply for the individual car control unit 3 goes down, the transmission lines or paths are switched over to send the hall information of the hall control unit 6 directly to the group supervisory control unit 10. Therefore, when the group supervisory control unit 10 goes down, the elevator service by the individual car control unit 3 alone can only be done for the hall information of the hall call button unit 9, thus posing another problem in that the operating efficiency of the elevator system is worsened.
The present invention is intended to obviate the problems as described above, and has as its object to provide an elevator group supervisory control system in which wiring for hall buttons can be simplified, and which is capable of carrying out elevator service with improved operating efficiency by transmitting hall information to a plurality of individual car control units even when some of the individual car control units and/or a group supervisory control unit are down.
A first aspect of the present invention resides in an elevator group supervisory control system, characterized in that for each of individual car control units, there is provided a communication control unit, having an independent power supply, which is connected with a corresponding individual car control unit, a hall control unit and a group supervisory control unit for data communications therebetween, and that the communication control units and the group supervisory control unit are bus-connected with one another by means of a group supervisory control transmission path.
A second aspect of the present invention resides in that each of the communication control units connected with the individual car control units includes a hall button group table which stores group data information for classifying response groups of hall equipment including hall call buttons related to the hall control unit connected therewith, and a hall button data processing section which adds the group data information of the hall button group table to hall button information from the hall equipment and then transmits it to the group supervisory control transmission path.
A third aspect of the present invention resides in that all the communication control units comprise a hall button group table which stores group data information for identifying response groups of hall equipment connected therewith through the hall control unit, a group supervisory control abnormality detection section for detecting an abnormality of the group supervisory control unit based on whether or not data from the group supervisory control unit is received, and a hall button data processing section for transmitting group supervisory control transmission path data which is formed by adding group data information of the hall button group table to hall button information from the hall equipment, the hall button data processing section being operable to receive group supervisory control transmission path data added by the group data information among data from the group supervisory control transmission path and transmit the group supervisory control transmission path data thus received to the individual car control unit connected therewith when the group supervisory control unit is abnormal, wherein the group supervisory control unit includes an assignment decision section which carries out group supervisory control according to the group supervisory control transmission path data from the communication control units, and assigns based thereon elevators to the individual car control units through the communication control units.
A fourth aspect of the present invention resides in that each of the communication control units comprises hall button group tables which store normal-operation group data information and abnormal-operation group data information, respectively, for identifying response groups of hall equipment connected therewith through the hall control unit, a group supervisory control abnormality detection section for detecting an abnormality of the group supervisory control unit based on whether or not data from the group supervisory control unit is received, and a hall button data processing section for transmitting group supervisory control transmission path data which is formed by adding group data information of the hall button group tables according to a normality or an abnormality of the group supervisory control unit to hall button information from the hall equipment, the hall button data processing section being operable to receive group supervisory control transmission path data added by the abnormal-operation group data information among data from the group supervisory control transmission path and transmit the group supervisory control transmission path data thus received to the individual car control unit connected therewith when the group supervisory control unit is abnormal, wherein the group supervisory control unit includes an assignment decision section which carries out group supervisory control according to the group supervisory control transmission path data from the communication control units, and assigns based thereon elevators to the individual car control units through the communication control units.
A fifth aspect of the present invention resides in that each of the communication control units includes a plurality of hall button group tables which store group data information for identifying response groups of hall equipment connected therewith through the hall control unit, and a hall button data processing section which adds group data information according to an operating condition of an elevator system to hall button information from the hall equipment and then transmits it as group supervisory control transmission path data, the hall button data processing section being operable to receive group supervisory control transmission path data added by the group data information according to the operating condition of the elevator system among data from the group supervisory control transmission path and transmit the group supervisory control transmission path data thus received to the individual car control unit connected therewith.
A sixth aspect of the present invention resides in that the hall equipment including hall call buttons are connected with one individual car control unit of a plurality of elevators which share the hall equipment.
In the elevator group supervisory control system of the present invention, there are provided communication control units each of which is connected with a hall control unit, an individual car control unit and a group supervisory control unit for data communications therebetween. Communication paths of each communication control unit and the group supervisory control unit are connected with each other through buses. With this arrangement, even when an individual car control unit connected with a communication control unit is put into an abnormal state such as a power supply down, etc., hall information on hall call buttons is transmitted to the group supervisory control unit via the communication control unit, so that a group supervisory control assignment of elevators can be made.
Moreover, a hall button group table for classifying the response groups of hall buttons connected is provided in each communication control unit connected with an individual car control unit, so that the group supervisory control unit is able to carry out operation control with good efficiency while taking account of hall button groups.
In addition, hall button group tables are provided in all communication control units connected with the individual car control units, and each communication control unit is able to receive hall information on the hall button groups registered in a hall button group table to be used. Thus, hall information on all the hall call buttons is connected to the communication control units via bus transmission paths, so that each individual car control unit is able to select and receive the data of the hall button groups registered in its hall button group table, performing elevator control based thereon.
Further, a plurality of hall button group tables are provided in a communication control unit connected with an individual car control unit, and a hall button group table to be used can be switched over to another one according to the operating condition of an elevator system. Accordingly, a hall control unit carries out group supervisory control processing in accordance with a predetermined hall button group table of the communication control unit, but even when the group supervisory control unit becomes abnormal, the elevator service can be carried out by changing the elevator system configuration while using another hall button group table.